Friday, August 29, 2008

More Major League Debuts

Today we announced the callups of RHP Josh Geer and OF Will Venable in addition to the recall of RHP Cla Meredith. In order to make room for these players, Scott Hairston was placed on the DL, Josh Banks was outrighted to AAA Portland, and Wil Ledezma was claimed off waivers by the Arizona Diamondbacks. We were planning on purchasing the contracts of Geer and Venable at the beginning of September, but our current situation dictated the moves be made now.

After being named our Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2007 with a 3.20 ERA across 171 innings in AA San Antonio, Josh Geer has spent the season in the the rotation for AAA Portland. His 166.2 innings currently lead the Pacific Coast League, and his 4.54 ERA is significantly better than the league average (as a point of reference, the 10th best ERA in the PCL is 4.24). A 3rd round selection out of Rice in 2005, Josh has been a very good strikethrower throughout his career, walking just 115 in 567 innings.

Will Venable has also spent a very productive year in Portland. While playing primarily CF, Will is currently hitting .292 with a .361 obp and a .464 slg. A corner OF for much of his minor league career, Will has made a seamless transition to CF this season and has surprised people with his range and instincts. Will was our 7th round pick in the 2005 draft out of Princeton where he was just the second player in Ivy League history to be named first team all-Ivy in both basketball and baseball. The only other player to accomplish the feat is Padres' RHP Chris Young.

Both Josh and Will have made their way through our minor league system, and we're happy that now they've broken through to the Major League level. They join Chase Headley and Nick Hundley as members of the 2005 draft class to appear for the Padres. We're excited to see both of them here throughout September.

4 comments:

quite surprised by Venables sturdiness at home plate, he seems really confident up there. It also seems as if he has a nice line drive type of swing, and I gotta say, its such a nice change to see a guy running that actually has some speed on the base paths. Its funny that for so long we had to hear about Speed being overrated, when you think about it, speed also comes with the intagibles, such as distracted pitchers rushing pitches to the plate, making a mistake pitch, outfielders hurrying throws and missing cutoff men, etc.

so, you'd think that it would make sense to invest in speed players. But, I am only a fan, I'm no academic like Alderson, nor am I a "good baseball person" like KT. I'm just a fan who calls it like it is.

I like what we've done with this draft, and the shape of the farm system. Keep up the good work guys.

As much as I have loved Antonelli the last few years, does hitting .215 in Triple A earn you the starting position and future of the position label within the franchise. I guess once he got it over the mendoza line he was golden, since he hit in the .100s most of the year. Is the thinking, he just needs a fresh location or the motivation of being in the bigs? Have his swing problems/over-selectivity issues been addressed?

Congratulations on signing Yferi Peña, it was so disappointing to learn that Kipnis, Thebeau and Mooneyhan did not sign, but for the Padres to turn around and sign this kid is great.

As fans, we get frustrated when we get the impression the club is not reinvesting. If the Padres are going to build a winner it has to come from astute signings, and paying top dollar for top prospects, after all those investments seem minimal compared to signing a top tier Free Agent.

Speaking of top tier Free Agents, I would love to see Milton Bradley in 2009, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the difference he made in the lineup.